PARABENS PART 3: What is everyone saying?

Monday, March 17, 2008

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S!
I'm sure many of you all will be out partying tonight, so let's feel like we "deserve" the partying! And what better way than to really start to understand one of the biggest skincare controversies, the parabens. So the links in this post will require some serious concentration. Please read these links by the experts in this post to get a strong understanding for the real truths behind parabens. And then celebrate tonight, cause you'll most definitely have earned it!

Boy is this a heated issue. Everyone seems to be an expert when it come to parabens. This really starts to hurt consumers when companies use it to sell their products. Of course cancer is a very emotional and sensitive topic (I'm a doctor after all and I know first hand how it has affected/devastated people's lives). But there is no excuse in representing things in a untruthful light. Find a few examples below of companies misconstruing the "link" between breast cancer and parabens. Here and Here and Here. Please note: these links are not as important to read as the ones below!

Immediately below are some of the most reliable sources. Please read them all, as they are some of the best and authoritative articles and summaries of the paraben issue.

The FDA made a statement about parabens back in 2006. My personal opinion is that they should really address this again, as the topic is still hot, if not hotter now.

PLEASE Read This:
Then (or instead) read one of my favorite research translators, Suzanne M. Snedeker, Ph.D. She's a well published researcher and works for Cornell University to "translate" research into understandable terms and information for the public. What a cool job! Anyway, click here for her translation of this research paper.

She translates the research well.

Please note: I will be adding my own summary on the research and issues overall in my last posting on the paraben series.

So, overall, all the experts pretty much agree on these 3 things:1.Do not to be alarmed about parabens.
2. All previous research on parabens have attested to their safety.
2. We need more research on the accumulation of parabens in tissue.

Make sure to read all the expert links in this post! It's good background for more that I will talk about later. For example, why is there even accumulation of parabens in tissue? Previous thinking and research shows that parabens are easily and quickly excreted from the body. So what gives? These are some more of the topics we'll discuss in future posts on parabens.

The Environmental Working Group Skin Deep site specifically lists out a whole variety of different paraben formulations. Some have ratings of 0-1 and are regarded as very safe. Proylparaben, on the other hand, has the highest toxicity rating of 10. Perhaps lumping all parabens together is overly simplistic. With our exposure to so many toxins everyday which may have a multiplicative effect, rather than an additive effect, it seems to me it would very difficult to pinpoint very specific causes of breast cancer. Too many variables to create a meaningful study.